Lyrax
The Lyrax (ライラックス) is a 4.5×6 rangefinder camera made by Fuji Kōgaku from 1939. General description The Lyrax looks like an overgrown screw-mount Leica with collapsible lens. It has a metal telescopic tube supporting the lens and shutter assembly. The top and bottom plates are chrome finished. The bottom plate is removed for film loading, as on the screwmount models. It has film flanges at both ends, one of which contains a tripod thread, and it is locked in position by a key. The back is fixed and contains two red windows to control the film advance, protected by a horizontally sliding cover. It also has a round metal patch in the middle, used by the factory and later repairers to adjust the lens infinity position. There is a film spool extractor on the advance side. The folding optical viewfinder stands above a large housing containing the uncoupled rangefinder, with two round windows. There is a distance setting knob above the right end of the rangefinder housing, graduated from 1 meter to infinity, and looking like the advance knob of a 35mm camera. There is metal patch behind the rangefinder housing, removable with the proper tool for rangefinder adjustment. The advance knob and body release are mounted on a small separate housing at the left of the top plate, looking like the one mounted on some [[Ikonta] models. It contains a double exposure prevention mechanism, , p.343, mentions automatic stop film advance but this is a mistake. with a small red/white indicator. Once the release is pressed, the button is locked and the indicator turns red. The release is unlocked and the indicator turns white again when the advance knob is turned. The advance knob has two red arrows to indicate the winding direction. The name Lyrax is engraved between the two rangefinder windows, in cursive style. A small plate inscribed FUJI KōGAKU is riveted under the base of the telescopic tube. The FUJI KōGAKU logo is embossed in the back leather at the bottom right. The lens is a front-cell focusing Terionar 75mm on all the models. The original model The original model was released in mid-1939. The earliest advertisement listed in , p.343, is dated June 1939. The same source says that the camera was featured in the September 1939 issue of Camera Club and in the December 1939 issue of Asahi Camera. The camera was presented as "the summit of Japanese optics" (光学日本の最高峰) in advertisements dated July to December 1939. Advertisements in Asahi Camera July and August 1939 reproduced in , p.101. Advertisement in Asahi Camera October 1939 reproduced in this page of the Heiki Seikatsu website. Advertisement on the front cover of Nihon Shashin Kōgyō Tsūshin, December 15, 1939, reproduced on p.33 of Hyaku-gō goto jūkai no kiroku. Four versions are listed in Asahi Camera July and August 1939: * f/4.5 lens, Fujikō B shutter, ; * f/4.5 lens, Fujikō A shutter, ; * f/3.5 lens, Fujikō B shutter, ; * f/3.5 lens, Fujikō A shutter, . The Fujikō B shutter gives B, 5–250 speeds and the Fujikō A shutter gives B, 1–300. The shutters mounted on the Lyrax are the same as on the New Semi Lyra and Lyra Six III except that they lack the T setting. It was probably removed because it interfered with the operation of the double exposure prevention mechanism. In the advertising pictures, the shutter plate is black with a white FUJIKŌ marking at the top. The three actual examples observed so far have the Terionar f/3.5 lens and the Fujikō B. They have a clear colored shutter plate with black markings at the top, reading FUJIKŌ in one word on one example and in two words FUJ and IKŌ on the two others, and no marking at the bottom. FUJIKŌ: example pictured in this page of the JCII collection. FUJ and IKŌ: example pictured in , p.329, and example pictured in , item 3033. . The Lyrax F The Lyrax F (ライラックスＦ型) was released in late 1940 or early 1941. The first advertisements listed in , p.343, are dated April 1941, but the Semi Lyra F and Lyra Six F equipped with the same shutter appeared at the end of 1940. It is equipped with the new Fujikō F shutter, also found on the Semi Lyra F, Lyra Six F and Lyra Flex F. The T setting was removed again and the shutter thus gives B, 1–200 speeds. The list of set prices compiled in October 1940 and published in January 1941 mentions four versions of the Lyrax, called "Lyrax" (¥75), "Lyrax F" (¥75), "Lyrax F L" (¥89) and "Lyrax F Y" (¥110), with no further detail. , type 4, sections 1, 5A and 6A. The Lyrax models are listed among 6×6 models, probably by mistake. These prices do not fit well with the prices observed in the advertisements, and the document is perhaps mistaken. A similar price list dated November 1941 has the "Lyrax", "Lyrax F" and "Lyrax J". , type 3, sections 9 and 10. The May 1941 advertisement in Shashin Bunka lists the Lyrax F with the f/3.5 lens only, for . Advertisement reproduced in , p.100. says that this version was also available with the f/4.5 lens, but this has not been confirmed. , p.343. The Lyrax F was reportedly advertised in Shashin Bunka until August 1942. , p.343 It appears with the Terionar f/3.5 lens in the April 1943 government inquiry on Japanese camera production. , item 50. It is also listed in an advertisement dated February 1944 placed by Banno Toyoji Shōten. Advertisement on the back cover of Nihon Shashin Kōgyō Tsūshin, February 15, 1944, reproduced on p.78 of Hyaku-gō goto jūkai no kiroku. The only actual example observed so far is pictured in . , item 3034. The shutter plate is clear colored (certainly yellowish) with black markings, reading FUJ and IKŌ at the top, with an arrow in between, and certainly FUJIKŌGAKU at the bottom, and the lens engraving reads Fuji–kō Anastigmat Terionar. On the Lyra Six F and Lyra Flex F, the lens engraving was changed to Fuji–kō Terionar between lens no.120000 and no.126000 and the yellowish shutter plate was replaced by a black one at the same time. This perhaps also applied to the Lyrax F. Notes Bibliography * Items 296, 302, 303. * P.37. (Included for its rangefinder.) * Type 3, sections 9 and 10. * Item 50. * Type 4, sections 1, 5A and 6A. * P.56 (brief mention only). * Nihon Shashin Kōgyō Tsūshin (日本写真興業通信). Hyaku-gō goto jūkai no kiroku (百号ごと十回の記録, Ten records, every hundred issues). Tokyo: Nihon Shashin Kōgyō Tsūshin Sha (日本写真興業通信社), 1967. No ISBN number. Advertisements on p.33, corresponding to the front cover of the December 15, 1939 issue, and on p.78, corresponding to the back cover of the February 15, 1944 issue. * P.329. * Items 3033–4. Links In Japanese: * Lyrax in the Camera database of the Center of the History of Japanese Industrial Technology * Advertisement for the Lyrax and Lyra Six published in the October 1939 issue of Asahi Camera, reproduced in a page of camera advertisements at the Heiki Seikatsu website Category: Japanese 4.5x6 rangefinder Category: Fuji Kōgaku Category: L Category: 1939